When Sonic Lost World was first revealed, not many would have predicted that the game would eventually feature crossover DLC with Yoshi and The Legend of Zelda. So how the heck did these two Nintendo collaborations come to be?

Producer Takashi Iizuka, speaking with Japanese outlet 4Gamer, said the concept came to him about six months prior to releasing the game. “This time, Sonic Lost World is a title that only released on Nintendo hardware, which is an opportunity that I couldn’t believe, collaborating together,” he said.

Originally, Iizuka hoped to include the Yoshi and Zelda Zones in the main game. But scheduling was too late, and they became free DLC items instead.

4Gamer did ask if Mario was ever considered as a potential candidate for Nintendo DLC. The short answer: not really.

Iizuka explained:

This time, the appearance is interesting, as combining Sonic into such a world is extremely foreign, and I wanted to aim at the unexpected.

There has been much mix and collaboration of Mario and Sonic in the “Mario & Sonic” series, and they have parts that resemble both games. There was also the idea that the combination of the two might not be that interesting to the audience.

Another nugget worth mentioning: the Yoshi and Zelda stages each took about three months to complete.

Iizuka said the following about the development of both levels:

In normal production, the hardest part is building up the base of the game. Stages can normally be changed simply by variations, but this time, it was shaped to be a different experience on each stage [of the DLC], which is why it took so long to complete.

It’s easy for Yoshi to be in Sonic Lost World, but the music, sound, and soundtrack of “The Legend of Zelda” made the development all the more entertaining and fun. I now feel like I want to make more, rather than just simply one zone. (Laughs)

We’ll be posting more with 4Gamer’s Sonic Lost World DLC interview soon.